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Layne was surprised to then be welcomed so affectionately by the woman when she released Joey and embraced her in a warm hug. It reminded Layne how long it had been since she felt such a motherly gesture. Layne gave a light squeeze back to the woman and smiled sweetly. “Thank you.”
Joey spoke up, “Layne, this is Marie, but everyone calls her Nonna.”
Marie nodded in agreement. “Everyone who comes through that door is family here. Especially this one right here.” She hooked a thumb at Joey. “Now, the sauce is on the stove.” She wagged her finger at Joey. “And don’t you go messing it up by adding anything else to it now. It is absolutely perfect the way it is.” Her words were firm with him, though not nearly as threatening as they should have sounded.
Joey’s finger crossed over his chest. “Cross my heart.”
“Mm-hmm.” She eyed him skeptically. “You two have fun,” she stated as she pulled her apron off and hung it up on a hook near a narrow set of stairs that led to an upstairs apartment.
After Marie retired upstairs, Joey removed his leather jacket hanging it up next to Marie’s well-used apron. He went to work setting up a pot of water on the stove.
Layne watched, unclear of what to do with herself. It wasn’t often she found herself in a kitchen with someone else. “Do you need help?”
“You can help by taking a seat right there.” He pointed at a stool by a center island where he set two plates down.
She tried to reassure him of her competence. “Believe it or not, I can reasonably find my way around a kitchen.”
“Sit your pretty little ass down, Layne.”
“Yes, sir.” She stripped off her jacket, adding it next to Joey’s before taking her assigned seat.
He continued to work his way around the spotless kitchen, preparing them a meal complete with freshly made garlic bread, a side salad, and a dish prepared with al dente spaghetti covered with Nonna’s sauce and meatballs. All made with love. The final touch was the two wine glasses filled with a rich chianti wine.
“I didn’t take you for the type to cook for a girl or…” she examined the label on the bottle of wine. “Know your wines.”
He settled onto the stool next to her. “I didn’t take you for the type to be so easily impressed.” Joey smirked at her as he took a sip from his glass of wine.
They both chit-chatted over the meal. Talking about everything from his upbringing to her time out west. Layne felt like she could have eaten five more pounds of the meatballs alone they had been so delicious. Joey’s hand rested on top of her thigh while he listened to her speak.
“Rebecca is my best friend, but she doesn’t get my life, not truly anyway. She’s been around long enough to know enough about how dangerous it is, but not how far down the rabbit hole it goes. Somedays it’s a relief that she is in the dark about it, and other days…” Layne’s voice trailed off, leaving the thought incomplete. She shook her head and finished off her glass of wine. “Now it’s your turn, Mr. Big and Bad. How is it that you got into this life?”
“I’m not sure there’s enough wine for all of that.” He chuckled, pouring Layne another serving before topping off his own.
“My mom got locked up when I was young, busted on drug charges. When she got out, instead of thinking about seeing her kid, she went straight to her dealer to get high. The cops found her with the needle still stuck in her arm in an alley. My old man barely knew I existed except when his bottle was empty and needed a refill.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders as though it was a story that had been spoken a hundred times.
“Nonna has been the only one who ever showed she gave a shit since I was a kid. She made sure I never went hungry, she tried to make sure I stayed out of trouble, but I had a mind of my own there. Got sent to Rikers a few times, met a few guys who showed me a few things, and here I am.” It sounded like such a simple explanation, but there was far more to it than that.
Joey had come to terms with his life never having been happy-go-lucky and had even embraced it so that he was comfortable in the man he had become as a result of the unfortunate circumstances.
She listened to how rough his upbringing had been in comparison to her own. Layne didn’t have it all easy though, pain and death had been splattered across her life like an arterial spray. “And what about the whole mask thing? Is that just some kinky shit that gets you all ramped up when you go in for a kill?”
“No, but I think it gets you ramped up though.” His hand squeezed her thigh suggestively before sliding to the top of it, inching up closer to her center seemingly going to repay her for her distraction on the ride here.
She bit her lower lip in response to his touch. “You didn’t answer the question.”
“I will answer it if you answer mine.”
Layne shook her head. “That’s not how this works, but fine, I will play.”
“The morning after we met, were you thinking about me while you were touching yourself in the shower?” His fingers brushed over the crotch of her jeans, prompting her cheeks to burn red hot and her hips to twitch in excitement.
So, he had been in her house long enough to overhear her pleasuring herself after that vividly hot dream she had. Layne should have been embarrassed and perhaps even mad about the invasion of her privacy, but she wasn’t.
“Maybe you should have come up there and joined me instead of lurking.” Her hand drifted between her legs to meet his, intertwining her fingers with his and guiding him away from her aching core.
He smirked as she could see him imagining what could have transpired if he had. “Now who’s not answering the question?”
“It’s a first date, a girl has to keep some secrets.”
